Open Grid Europe (OGE), GRTgaz Deutschland and Solar Turbines have partnered to successfully test fuel gas containing up to 25 percent hydrogen on a low emissions Titan 130 SoLoNox gas turbine driving a gas compressor. These gas turbines are usually powered by natural gas taken from the pipeline system.

According to OGE's press release "for this project, the transmission system operators, GRTgaz Deutschland and OGE, teamed up with Solar Turbines, an American gas turbine manufacturer and wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. The tests took place at the MEGAL compressor station in Waidhaus (Bavaria)."  MEGAL is owned by Open Grid Europe (51 percent) and GRTgaz Deutschland (49 percent).

Nicolas Delaporte, Managing Director of GRTgaz Deutschland said, "This test is a good example of working collaboratively across national borders to tackle and solve important issues in the energy industry. In the spirit of international partnership, I am convinced that we will continue to write MEGAL’s success story."

Using only green hydrogen, the gas turbine was extensively tested with various H2 blending rates under different loads. Emissions and turbine performance were measured, demonstrating the turbine’s ability to operate with the same available power while meeting the required emission levels. The demonstration, which lasted for more than six weeks, operated on the H2 blend for more than 200 hours. The ability of the gas turbine to safely start on the fuel blend was also demonstrated.

Dr. Thomas Hüwener, a member of OGE’s board of management, put the results into context, "The project shows the desire and ability to expand and realize the hydrogen economy. But to do this, we now need the right legal and regulatory framework to accelerate Germany’s hydrogen economy supported by a strong financing model.